Archive for July, 2008

Within our chiropractic training and culture is a diverse range of physical indicators that we observe, measure and monitor to help us to diagnose our patients’ physical state: The history is used to narrow down our list of disorders or even diseases which may be causing the problem; Posture tells us how misaligned someone’s body and spine is; Radiographs show us how much decay and degeneration has developed; Range of motion tests measure how stiff they have become; SEMG assesses how tight muscles are; our palpation skills feel where there is contraction, restriction, fixation and misalignment.

And then we apply a physical therapy to try and intervene on the physical disorder that we have isolated.

It has almost become a cliché that there is a mind/body connection. But have we tended to minimise this relationship? Or have we even missed the point of this revelation? Are we persisting with the convenient separation and compartmentalisation of these two dimensions? We say, “oh yes the mind can affect the body, and the body can affect the mind” – but in saying this do we miss the paradigm of the mind/body relationship?

In other words the mind IS the body, and the body IS the mind.

When you are feeling certain emotions like anger, resentment, guilt, frustration – your physical body is different to how it is when you are feeling emotions like love, acceptance, peace, joy, reward. And if your physical body is different, then your thoughts, feelings and emotions are different. One doesn’t lead to the other – one is the other.

Let’s take another look at our list of “physical indicators” from another point of view, to see if we can see what they might really mean in terms of the mind/body:

The History is really someone’s story about the suffering they currently feel. And we are very good at asking questions about how the suffering feels: Where it hurts, how much it hurts, how big an area does the hurt cover, when does it feel a bit better and when does it feel a bit worse? But do we miss the most important question? What does the hurt mean – to them? Here’s another way of asking this question to help those who can’t make a connection – “if this hurt didn’t go away what would it mean you couldn’t do?”, or “if this hurt didn’t go away what aspect of your life do you think would be most affected?” Do you know that if something in your therapeutic relationship and encounter doesn’t allay or release this connection between their pain and suffering, that their mind/body will resist healing?

Postural Assessment: Why does anyone have bad posture? Because they don’t know they have it! Why would anyone carry their head too far forwards when that skull and its contents are as heavy as a bowling ball? Because they don’t recognise that it is where it is – they have poor somatic awareness. Here’s a thought – they will also have a proportionately poor psychic awareness. In other words they will actually have poor somatopsychic awareness. Check it out next time you examine someone with really bad posture: Ask them how they are feeling emotionally, ask them how aware they are of each of their internal bodily functions: More often than not the same disconnect will exist.

What about those protective buttresses that are being layered down inside their body – the ones you see growing around their skeleton on their Radiographs? Ask yourself this question: How strong, thick and solid are the protective mechanisms that this person has built around their emotions and memories? What will it take to chip away this person’s emotional fortress? The resistance, slowness of their recovery and the common poor prognosis could be reflective of their hardened interaction with the world in a more general sense.

And that stiffness that has built up in their Spinal Range of Movement, that you prescribe stretching exercises to reverse. Here is my observation: Range of motion is directly proportionate to range of emotion. My saying goes like this – “concrete body – concrete mind”. Observe how flexible these people are to suggested changes in their state of mind or lifestyle, and you may see a mirror image of their body’s flexibility.

What about that tension that you see on their SEMG? You may interpret it as physical tension: And you might ask; “maybe you are working too hard”, “maybe you did too much gardening on the weekend”, “maybe you aren’t sitting up straight”? How about this one – muscle tension is proportionate to neurological tone, which is dependent on emotional state. Maybe their body hasn’t been working overtime – maybe their mind has.

And all those things you “feel” while you are Palpating: Stiffness, resistance, swelling, and misalignment. Have you ever taken a moment to ask yourself while you have a direct connection with this person’s field of intelligence: “What am I feeling as I palpate this person?” You may be great at palpating, but, if you get good at feeling, then you will get even better at FEELING. You may even glean more insight into that person’s state of wellbeing in thirty seconds of palpation than sixty minutes of talk…

How does any of this help you to become a better healer, or a more profitable businessman? When you GET IT, that you are a body/mind and that your practice members are body/minds – Then you will experience greater quality and wholeness in your life, and your customers will receive greater quality and wholeness from you as a healer – and people pay for quality…

(ps. If you think that this is suggesting that you have to become more of a psychologist or counsellor to be a better chiropractor – then you have missed the point – this has nothing to do with analysing and identifying the past hurts and experiences and helping someone to cognitively overcome the related dysfunctional thoughts and feelings. What this is about is that there is a whole new dimension awaiting you when you become more conscious of the mind/body synergy – what you are doing right now therapeutically will offer a much deeper meaning for both you and your practice members. In other words I am not talking about a change in procedure – but a change in consciousness.)

SKEYHILL, THOMAS JOHN (1895-1932), soldier and lecturer, was born on 10 January 1895 at Terang, Victoria, son of James Percy Skeyhill, driver and later aerated waters factory manager, and his wife Annie, née Donnelly. Both parents were native born of Irish extraction. Tom was educated at the local state school and from 1902 at St Mary’s Convent School, Hamilton. At 14 he became a telegraph messenger at Hamilton and later a telephonist. A clever reciter, he was successful in local elocution competitions and was a debater with the Hibernian Society.

Enlisting in the 8th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, in August 1914, Skeyhill embarked from Melbourne in December and landed at Anzac Cove as a signaller on 25 April 1915. On 8 May, during the advance at Cape Helles, he was blinded by an exploding Turkish shell. He was invalided back to Melbourne in October and later was officially welcomed home at Hamilton Town Hall.

Skeyhill had been composing verse, some of which was published in the London, Cairo and Melbourne press. In November 1915 he appeared at the Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne, in full Gallipoli kit, reciting his compositions. His Soldier Songs from Anzac, published in December, sold 20,000 copies in four months. For two years Signaller Skeyhill, “the blind soldier poet”, toured Australia, lecturing and reciting, raising funds for the Red Cross Society and appearing on recruiting platforms. He was discharged on 28 September 1916.

In December 1917 Skeyhill left on a lecturing tour of North America. He became a sensation - at Carnegie Hall, New York, Theodore Roosevelt praised him as ‘the finest soldier speaker in the world’. Under osteopathic treatment he recovered his sight in Washington in 1918.

Skeyhill speaks of this encounter in the Anzac Bulletin Oct 4, 1918: “Within a few minutes after Dr Moore began manipulating the back of my neck at the apex of the spinal column I experienced a sharp excruciating pain. Then as if by magic, little flashes began to come before my heretofore dimmed eyes, and before I realized just what was taking place I found that I could see.” Skeyhill had been told by various specialists that his only hope for a return of his sight was a miracle.

Impressive are some of the spectacular results reported by early chiropractors in patients with infectious diseases.

One example where chiropractic care provided a beacon of light was the 1917-18 influenza epidemic, which brought death and fear to many Americans. It has been estimated that 20 million died throughout the world, including about 500,000 Americans. Walter Rhodes provides fascinating information about the profession during those years. A chiropractic pioneer wrote, “I was about to go out of business when the flu epidemic came - but when it was over, I was firmly established in practice.” The results were spectacular.

Rhodes reported that in Davenport, Iowa, medical doctors treated 93,590 patients with 6,116 deaths - a loss of one patient out of every 15. Chiropractors at the Palmer School of Chiropractic adjusted 1,635 cases, with only one death. Outside Davenport, chiropractors in Iowa cared for 4,735 cases with only six deaths - one out of 866.

During the same epidemic, in Oklahoma, out of 3,490 flu patients under chiropractic care, there were only seven deaths. Furthermore, chiropractors were called in 233 cases given up as lost after medical treatment, and reportedly “saved all but 25.”

The unnamed authors of the 1925 book, “Chiropractic Statistics,” undertook a more comprehensive survey. This text is a compilation of the responses of practicing chiropractors to a questionnaire. The report covers 99,976 cases reported by 412 chiropractors in 110 specific conditions. A sampling follows:

Scarlet Fever: There were 149 cases involving 60 chiropractors. 147 were reported as completely recovered. Two showed little or no improvement. There were no fatalities. The percentage of recoveries was said to be 98.7%

Smallpox: 45 chiropractors attended 101 cases. 100 showed complete recovery. One was referred to another practitioner. There were no fatalities.

Of course, that was another era. The research methodology of today simply didn’t exist. Furthermore, chiropractic is not a treatment for a specific disease. Please don’t use these reports as the basis for a Yellow Pages ad!

Recent research has revealed much about how the nervous system is involved in the immune process.

A comprehensive review of the literature summarizes our current understanding. “The brain and immune system are the two major adaptive systems in the body. During an immune response, the brain and the immune system ‘talk to each other’ and this process is essential for maintaining homeostasis… Two pathways link the brain and the immune system: the autonomic nervous system (ANS) via direct neural influences, and the neuroendocrine humoral outflow via the pituitary… the ANS regulates the function of all innervated tissues and organs throughout the vertebrate body with the exception of skeletal muscle fibers.”

In a world where we are faced with antibiotic resistant bacteria, and viral diseases where effective treatments are lacking, the role of chiropractic care in allowing for optimum immune system function deserves thorough exploration…